InMe frontman Dave McPherson, born and bred in Brentwood but now living in Chelmsford, likes to keep so busy that he feels like there is “a little mouse running around pushing all these switches” if he’s inactive too long.

But he loves his home county and loves to be in Essex, even if it is usually only for a brief period.

InMe hit the road again this month for tour with alt-rockers A and Teenage Dirtbag chart stars Wheatus.

“It’s 2003 - get your baggy jeans on,” enthused Dave as he looked ahead to the tour, before adding: “I don’t know why we used to wear them. They were always soaking at the bottom! And your chains…

“We know the guys in A because we used to rehearse in London when we were doing our second album and they were next door for about a month or two.

“They’re lovely lads and an amazing band. We’re the same era – I remember when we first started we were wide-eyed teenagers with videos on MTV thinking ‘this is it’ and seeing A, that Nothing song – that is a banging tune.

“It’s safe to say that about Wheatus too, with Teenage Dirtbag. They seem really sweet, they’ve been tweeting things to do with us, nothing about the tour, and they didn’t need to do that so it shows they are nice people, I’m imagining.

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“I’ve heard that Brendan, the main guy, comes to the UK because he loves it here. It’s a passion thing. I’ve got very good vibes about it and I think’s it’s good that all the bands are slightly different.

“We’re a bit heavier and we go into a metal area sometimes. It’s good that we’re first on because we get to give everyone a shot of adrenaline – come on, wake up! Then we get to pack up the van, do the merch, do the signings, meet people and watch the gig.

“We like supporting because it means we can introduce ourselves to new people and we can enjoy the show from the audience’s perspective because if you’re headlining. 9.30 to 11pm you’ve got to keep your wits about you and by the time you’ve settled down it’s midnight and it’s time to go back to the hotel and go to bed.

"So we’re well up for it. And it’s easy, with our music, playing an hour-and-a-half set is hard. It’s hard vocal-wise and we put our all into it physically as well. So doing a half-hour you can just smash it out like you’re in the gym for half an hour.”

The band formed when its original members were still mates at school in Brentwood, and six albums have followed since.

“Our first ever rehearsal was in my mum and dad’s living room in July 1996,” recalled Dave, “and I’m the original member, but it’s a long time when you’re kids of 14 to still be in the same band together, but we achieved a lot and we’re still going.

“I lived in Brentwood until four years ago and I love Brentwood but now I live in Chelmsford, which is better for me because there’s lots going on. We’re right out in the countryside as well, which I absolutely love.

“I love Essex. I love the borderline cartoony accents we adopt sometimes. It’s a beautiful place. When I was driving around with my girlfriend she said ‘it’s actually stunning. There’s some beautiful surroundings’.

“Me and Joey, the original bassist were best friends from day one at St Thomas’s Infants School. We both hit it off and our mums hit it off – for them it was like having a free babysitter.

“I have such fond memories of that school. I kept most of my friends from then, in fact still up until this day. When I went to Brentwood County High School I was a bit of a loner so I kept my friends more from my infant and junior school.”

He added: “Then Simon (Taylor) was the only drummer in the school. I didn’t like him at first although once he joined the band, the whole thing changed.

“I remember the first time I met Simon. We were only kids and kids are cruel. I was sitting on a seat in a youth club and he wanted to sit there so I was then put on the floor! By put, I mean thrown!

“But we went on to be in a band together for 21 years and be best friends. I think he said sorry for that. Last year I think it was!”

The last album InMe released was Trilogy: Dawn, due to be the first instalment of a three-album set.

But that was in 2015 and there’s been nothing since. So what’s happening?

“I cant talk about anything! We’ll be announcing very soon what the next plan is,” said Dave.

“It’s been a good three years since the last album came out and that’s been for the best. I’d created a routine for making albums and that wasn’t actually healthy. It was solid, there was not cutting corners, but I needed a big breather, I think, to re-establish my love for music and that has totally come back.

“Rather than it just being something that I do, I am in love with it.”

Since that last album there’s been a change behind the drum kit.

“Tom (Dalton) joined the bad when Simon left – totally amicably because he had other cool stuff come along which you can’t turn down at our point in our lives – last year and it has invigorated the band,” explained Dave.

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“It’s perfect, He’s amazing. I hate him, he’s that amazing! He’s an amazing drummer, a lovely person, he’s a long-haul pilot as a job, he does all our social media, he’s an award-winning photographer and a videographer

“And he’s only 29! He probably turned down a career in football to become an astronaut. It’s a team. It was before but now it feels like a fresh start.”

Dave has kept himself busy with his solo work but is clearly relishing InMe’s busy forthcoming schedule, which will also include a tour in the New Year.

“I think I slept four or five nights in my own bed in September,” he said, “and that’s actually really good for me.

“I’m not good at being at home. I just go mad – there’s something in my brain, it’s like a there’s a little mouse running around pushing all these switches.”

InMe perform with A and Wheatus at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 21.